In my kitchen: Winter's kale

Kale holds on through some frostiness, so we harvested a whole plant this afternoon and made a good dinner with the leaves, a nice bunch. I thought the hardy greens would go well with some homegrown shallots and onions, plus oven-dried tomatoes made from my room-ripened stash. In this dish, the kale is dark green and shiny after cooking, so I'm naming the recipe Lacquered Kale.

LACQUERED KALE
for two

1 bunch of kale
4 pieces of oven-dried tomato, rough chopped
3 T olive oil
1 shallot, diced
garlic, diced
1 t brown sugar
1 t fish sauce
1 t shoyu (optional)
1 to 2 T sake (optional)

1. In a Dutch oven, bring about 1/2 C water to a boil.
2. Cut kale into 3-inch pieces. Throw in the bottom (thicker stem part) pieces of the kale and cook for 30 seconds to a minute. Since this part is a little tougher, it needs a little extra time to cook.
3. Throw in the next thickest bunch. Toss with other pieces. The water will eventually boil off completely, but there should be some liquid to help cook the greens. If the water has already boiled off, add a little more (1/4 C at a time) so that the greens don't scorch.
4. Add next pieces, and then the next. Most of the water should be gone, but the greens should still be moist.
5. Move greens to the side of the pot. Heat should be medium high. Add olive oil and then add shallot and garlic. Brown lightly (until aromatic) and add brown sugar. Move shallot, garlic and sugar around until the sugar melts. Mix in with greens.
6. Add oven-dried tomatoes and toss.
7. Add fish sauce and shoyu. It will smell strong, but the flavor will mellow and meld with all the other flavors.
8. Heat should still be medium high. Add sake and toss until alcohol burns off. Remove from heat. Check salt and adjust.
9. Serve over brown rice and with a fried egg on top.

OVEN-DRIED TOMATOES
I usually don't like commercially available sun-dried tomatoes, but these are so good, it's tempting to eat them just like any other dried fruit. Or, put them in pasta or on pizza.

ripe tomatoes
olive oil

1. Heat the oven to low, up to 250 degrees should be fine.
2. Slice tomatoes. If they're small, just slice in half. If they're larger, you can get three or four pieces. The pieces will shrink, so it's fine to start thick.
3. Toss in a bowl with olive oil. Let them sit a couple minutes so that juices drain.
4. With tongs or a slotted spoon, arrange tomato slices cut side down on baking sheets with rims, thicker pieces at the edges and thinner pieces in the middle.
5. Put the sheets of tomato slices in the oven to dry out. Check every 30 minutes or so. Time will vary depending on how thick the pieces are. A full oven might take three to four hours for just a jar of finished slices, but the result is dried fruit with a sweet condensed flavor. Eat within a week or so.